ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
STORY: With just days to go before the conclusion of the U.S. presidential election, acclaimed monologist Mike Daisey has returned to the Washington, D.C. stage with his one-man show "The Trump Card."
He charts the rise and fall of the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, drawing big laughs but also offering incisive reflections on what has been a turbulent campaign season.
"What we don't have is depth, especially an emotional depth, so actually people are very hungry to make some sense of the situation we're in a way that's not derived entirely through journalism," he told Reuters at the Woolly Mammoth theater, where his show will run through October 30.
First performed in June, Daisey has updated his script several times to incorporate new information about Trump, including the release of a video showing him making vulgar remarks about women.
"People had really not done their homework. The news was always out there," Daisey said of the fallout.
While he makes no secret of his disdain for the man he calls a "performer" above all else, the monologist does not let anyone off the hook for the state of American politics, from the Republican Party and the media to "smug" liberals.
Daisey, who previously turned his pen on Steve Jobs and the Department of Homeland Security, said he was immediately drawn to delving into Trump when rumors began percolating about his White House bid.
"He's famous exclusively for being rich, and that's actually profoundly strange," he said. "The more I thought about what he means in our culture, the more I wanted to talk about him."
"The Trump Card" has been performed by Daisey in more than a dozen cities across the United States. The script is also offered to other actors under an open license to maximize its reach.
After wrapping in Washington, the show will mark its final pre-election performance in New York City.

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